Updike, D.B.; McCutcheon, John T.; Rogers, Bruce. The Work of Bruce Rogers, Jack of All Trades, Master of One: A Catalogue of an Exhibition Arranged by the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the Grolier Club of New York [with:] TWENTY ORIGINAL PRINTING PLATES, seventeen of which were used to illustrate this catalogue, plus three others. liv, 127 pp., illustrated, 8vo, blue cloth over boards, dustjacket. Introduction by D.B. Updike, a letter from John T. McCutcheon, and an address by Mr. Rogers
This catalogue of the landmark 1939 exhibition of the work of Bruce Rogers, the greatest American type and book designer of the twentieth century, is accompanied by a group of 20 original printing plates (measuring from 1.75 x .5 in. to 7.5 x 5.5 in.), seventeen of which were used to produce the photographic illustrations in the catalogue. Each image plate or typographic text plate (the latter etched into metal) is mounted on a 3/4" thick wood block.
The plates consists of:
- 14 plates for the 14 illustrations following pages 6, 54, 70, 86 and 102 in the catalogue;
- A plate for Bruce Rogers' frontispiece portrait and a plate for his separate signature below;
- An extra, smaller plate for the Joseph Conrad photograph that precedes page 103;
- Plus three others: a typographic plate etched in metal but not used in the catalogue; and two small manuscript plates (of Rogers' distinctive handwriting) also etched in metal but not used in the catalogue.
The catalogue also contains eight pages of illustrations (not printed on coated paper) that are not covered by these 20 plates. All plates are in fine condition with, naturally, some ink stains at the woodblock edges.